Olive Oatiman's Return A

OLIVE OATIMAN'S RETURN A. L. Kroeber

In 1851 a pioneer family named Oatman ws traveling alone westward through southern Arizona when' it was attacked by "tApecho," actually Yuman Yavapai, sometimes called Mohave-Apache or Yuma- Apache. The parents were killed, two girls taken captive and before long sold to Mohave visitors. On-e of tho sistors died, but the other, Olive, stayed *ith the Mohave, in Mohave valley, about four years, when the U. S. Government, through its army post at Ft. Yuma, claimed her and-she was restored. A somewhat sensational book was published which would have had more permanent value if it had sought to record more of Olive's concrete remembrances instead of vague phrases meant to thrill.(l) Ali'iiman, as they called her, was well remembered by the Mo- have in 1903, and they usually were first to mention her, expect- ing that this white captive would be what Americans were likely to find of most interest in Mohave history. Various old native men and women who had known Olive Oatman in their youth were pointed out to me, but most of them were disinclined to rominisce about her on the gound that it might be held against them as in- criminating. Finally TokwaQa, `tMusk Melon," volunteered to tell what he knew about the episode, and on June 22 did so. A young man interpreted, whom I noted only as Jim, and who was quito likely some kind of kinsman. We sat down under a ramada by TokwaQa's house, which stood a little north of the "Pump Houso" (Neodles City water works), near the Colorado River. The following day Tokwaga also told me a myth on the origin of war, which however did not progross far beyond the creation durine the day I had available for recording its but is being recorded for publication. TokweQa is also mentioned several times in a long reminiscence which I secured later in 1903, in San Francisco, from Jo Nelson, about fights of the Mohave with the whites and with other Indians. Tokwaga was reckoned brave but was evidently not bellicose or intransigent. This is TokwaQa's account:

THE NARRATIVE I was with the Yuma, visiting, when I heard news carried from the Mohave here to Yuma, that the Mohavo had gone to bring two white girls. Then came another roport: "Now they have brought them." So I heard it; and I thought: "Well, I will return; that is where I live." So I traveled north. -Whein I got to Ahwe-ny-eva near Parker, I was told where the girls were .being kept. My own

1 home then was on the east side, opposite and above hore whore wO aro sitting; but tho main river then ran much to the east, whore the cottonwoods are now; there was much more farmland on the California side then. It was on this side that the girls were living, close by here, only two or three hundred yards north!(2) At that time it was far from the (main) river; but later the site where they lived was washed away by it. So that is where they were kept. Now I had got back to my home, and sometimes I would oross over and look at the girls as they lived with the Mohave here and got on well with them. The chie(3) said:"Let everyone help raise them' If they are sick, tend themn Treat them wellP' So I saw an,d kew they were happy living here, for three, four, fiive years, perhaps more--1 did not keep track of the time. Only once I was told that one of the sisters had died, nothing more.(4) Then I heard that the army officers at Ft. Yuma were talking about the captive girl. The head officer's name was Kanmpinter (Carpenter).(5) Now some Yum-a whom this officer had sent came, we heard, to where the railroad bridge l now, at the foot of the valley. And by sundown they had come up as far as some miles below my home on the other side, and slept there. The next day, the Yuma swam the river to this (California) side, I heard, so I crossed over too, and next morning went to the settlement where the girl was. There some of,the Yuma (wom I knew) met me and said: "Is that you?" 'Yes," I told them, and they invited me: "CQne and eat with us," for they had been given food by the Mohave there. We ate and they told me they hid been s3rit up by the rLrV officers.

Then they went to talk with the' Moha've head man whQ had charge of the girl. The leaders of the Yuma talked with him that night and tried to perguade him to give her up.lHe an- swered: '1Vel; I would like to raise this girl. We traveled far to buy her. We like her. And we want to make tricndg (through her). V}hen those *ho come by us know ho'w we treat her, they will treat us well too. If the officers want to see her, they had better come here and talk with me, and I will let them have her." But all the women there were sorry. " like you much," they said to Olive. They talked another night there. Then the Yuma said: "We might as well retum; we cannot get her." I went with them. Four or five miles below here we swam aoross and went to a settlement where tbere was ahead man and a wole company had gathered. "What luck did you .havet he asked the' Yuma. "We talked about it, but he would not give her up."- "What did you tell him?" . "W7e tsId him whaPt the army oc. ficers said, nothing more." The chief advised them: "I

2 would say to him, 'I will give you something for her,' beoause they did pay for her and they do like her.? And if you pay, you will surely get her." Then I heard the Yuma say among themselvess "Let us give him a horse." So the next morning they went baok up, to the same place, and I with them. The Yuma.entered the house, and many Mohave too. But the Yuma did not speak (of their, errand) and no one else did. I stayed there all night, because I wanted to hear what would be said, but no one said a word (about the matter). In the morning I heard the Yuma speak. "A man called Car- penter sent us. You did not agree (to what he wants), but we have returned, because he will not let up. He will go on bother- ing you about it. The reason you did not agree is that we were not offering you anything; we know that. WJell, we have a white horse downriver (at Yuma); we will give you that." Now there was another head man present, an old man, above everybody. So the Yuma asked hims "What do you say?" And he answereds "I am satisfied. That is why we kept her; we raised her so that if anyone wants her back, they can have her. If Carpenter wants me to give her to him, I will do so. et's take her down and go to get the horse." Next day we all started, going the same trail; we crossed the river, and went on down to where some houses were standing empty, still north of where the bridge is now. There we stopped to eat. At that time the Mohave were starving and had only wild seeds to live on; but they had given us a little of those to take along, and so we made mush there and ate. Then the girl said to met "You will always follow me?" "Yes*" "I do not know the Yuma language, I only know Mohave. When we get there to the officers, you speak in my place; then you will go home again." I told her: "'Yes, I will go with you. If you.get sick, I will take care of you; if your feet are sore, I will carry you," Then, that same day, we started again, and came where the bridge is now. Many Mohave were there to see the girl and the Yuma, and gave us a little food to carry on the way. One of them put some in my hand, and I tied it in a rag for the girl. We went on down, still on the Arizona side (over the ridge) into Chemehuevi Valley, at the lower end of whioh we crossed the river. A few miles farther were some empty Chemehuevi houses. There we slept.(6) Next morning we started along the trail but wanted to go the straightest way, so crossed over the high Kwaskilye range.(7) The Yuma were fast travelers and,got far ahead. The girl was not so good, and we led (supported) her. At Parker we crossed back to the Arizona side. The Yuma arrived there while the sun was

3 still up, the girl and-l after it.-began to be dark. We slept without suppur.(0)'i In the morning we cooked a few beans and.started south. 'We were worn out and traveled slowly till midafternoon when we approached.a Mohave settlement. They saw us coming, recognized us, and began to cook. So we got.a little to eat and stayed there the night. This placis, like the one atParker, is on the Indian Re- servation now C1.SOs3. In the morning we started, but orossed to the California side to shorten the way, and after a while we came to Akoi-humfQe-nahanyo, where there were houses at which some Yuma sometimes lived; it was not a home village of the Yuma.(9) There we slept. Next morning, (10) we kept on the California side and in the afternoon got to Asa'kwatai, (11) where a band of Yuma were living. Then all the Yuma head men talked together, and we got enough to eat, and rested and slept there. In the mnorning they fed us beane and pumpkins. Then we started, but the :,.rl was giv'ing out now. She walked slowly. And the Yuma said ttThis is the last settlement all the way down, except you will come to one more place of houses, to Ahpe-hw'3lyu, (12) where they -will have fish." -We got there near sunset. The Yuma party there was living on fish, and that is what we got. They brought a big Colorado salmon; when I saw it, I was glad, 'and cooked it. We all sat down and fell to, the girl too. The fish was cooked soft, and we had a little wild seed with itt it made a goo& supper, and we talked, and the Yuma head men talked together and we slept. When-we got up, the head-of the Yuma there said: "We have nothing to feed you. Alre would like to give you something but haven'.-t any'" We told them:s tWe are tired from walk-.ng; we would like to float downriver a while} have you anythnpg for us?t' "Yes, I have two bundles of tule (rushes);(13) take those." So we toock tlione, &and flcated down for five or six miles, then landed (on tvhe Arizona side-). W-e found (14) zseeds, carried them in a cloth, and when we stopped to camp we ground them and made mush, but half we made into a loaf to carry, because there would be no more housees or people until we reached Yuma. So we ate and slept. In the mornin-g(15) I said to the girl: "Take seed loaf to last you a day and a half, because it may be one or it may be two days before we arrive and there are no more houses on the way." Then we stnrted. At KuvukwTlye(16) we crossed(17) to the Cali- fornia s:ic,; this was the last ororsing. We walked on to To'oske, an ninhabitedlplace on a mesa (off the-river) and slept there.(8)

4 Before daylight. the. head man of the Yuma in our party said: 'One of you young men carry my message to Carpenter. so they oan make a calico dress for this girl and bring it up(from the fort) to my house, so that it will be waiting for her when we arrive." So the news went ahead to Yuma azd was taken to Carpenter's house. All the Yuma kmew and gathered. But the officers were not so quick about getting the dress ready, and we walked fast and arrived about nine in the morning,(19) and all the Yuma stood in a crowd. But Carpenter had sent food for us and we had a full meal. About ten o'clook Carpenter arrived. He said nothing. but took Olive by the hand, led her to the water, and she washed. Then she threw away her baok skirt, (20) and put on the calioo skirt. Then Carpenter, saids "All come down to my house and we will have. a big meeting." So everybody started, and the rest swam across the river, but the Yuma messengers and I and Olive and Carpenter orossed *to Yuma in the boat* Then they took her into the fort. There an old officer asked her about the bad happening (her parents' murder)s(21) "How did it happen? Where did they catch you?" She told them* "I don't know. We were too young to remember, my sister and-I. I think it was somewhere this side of Phoenix; from there they took us to the mountains. Then those Mohave Indians heard about us, oame, took us away and kept us both. My sister died and I was alone, but they treated me well. There was not much to eat, but I helped them, and got used to it, and got along with them. *They saved my life.' Then the offioer told hers "Your brother"-.. his age was about 25--"has inquired if you were dead or alive, and where. So I asked around and learned where you were and sent for you. Now I will notify. your brother, and he will surely come and you will see him." All this I learned from the Yuma interpreter. Then the Yuma who had made the trip north were all paid off, in food or other things. But they gave me nothing. Then the crowd of Yuma all scattered to their houses, and I went up with them. I stayed two or three days, then went down to Haramsiv(22:) and lived with some Yuma there. About a fortnight later they told me that her brother had arrived at the Fort with a train of wagons. I wanted to see him, 'but oould not oome olose; 1(23) was then working for a white man called Yaeger. But I saw them start, and as they came, I was close to the road. There was a long string of wagons; the girl rode behind. She got off to talk to me. I said: "You are going?" Then her brother picked up a club and started for me, but she said: "Don'ti Re is a nice man; he took good care of me." So he threw his club away and gave me a whole box of crackers. She said: "This is the last I shall see of you. I will tell all about the Mophave and how I lived with them. Good bye." Me shook hands and I saW her go off.

5 Some questions were' now asked To1vaQa: How well did `she speak Mohave? --She talked it-well. Ifiere were her people wAn&u ed, and by whom? --It was at Aha- ka-tam6ha, (24) west of Phoenix, southeast of here. They were Yavapai who did it. How many Mohave went with her to Yuma? --I was the only one. No women and no other Mohave men oame along. (The contrary is implied in paragraph 7.) And the white horse? --The chief promised it did not get it. When he went for it to Yuma they gave him only some beads. What did the Mohave call the girl? -- They called her Olilve (Ali).--But a woman listening in saids "They called her Owit's." (25)

COMMENT This reminiscence is certainly objeotive and detailed in its matter-of-factness. It touohes no high points of feeling; indeed it is consistently unemotional--both as regards the narrator and the girl it ooncerns. Throughout it is fully oriented in time and space. It is an organized, orderly narrative. The compass is ef- fectives it begins with his first hearing about the oaptive, it ends with her saying goodbye'to him. The facts that no other Mohave are mentioned on the long journey or at Yuma, and that when .asked the informant denied he. had Mohave companions, though he did--these f ats indicate that his narrative has been somewhat warped by personalization. Never- theless, this bit of egocentrism seems not to have detracted from the objectivity of the remainder of the narrative. And as late as 1903 the older I1ohave were sensitive zon the subject of their oaptive. Some feared incrimination in white eyes, and perhaps belated punishment. TokwaQa perhaps thought his helpful role would win him praise or special consideration. He certainly played it up. As to psychology, it is evident how full of-curiosity these tribes were, and how idle, or at least how ready to drop their work and congregate for anything that promised novelty of ex- perience. They waited long -- perhaps all night -- without anything being said, then listened to talk most of the next day. And hun:ger did not diminish their curiosity. One- &ets a sense of purposelessness of life, of not muoh direction. TokwraQa is hanging arouAndamong the Yuma when the story opens. Then he goes home -- "'that is where I live" is

6 all the motivation. When the Yuma start downriver with Olive, he starts too -wwhy, he does not even discuss. It probably seemed the only natural thing to do. Later, in an account by another narrator, when the troops were in Mohave Valley and called for ten men to go baok with them to Yuma, apparently as sort of hostages, though the Indians spoke of imprisonment, TokwaOa volunteered, and was taken along. Wahe-n the confinement became irksome, he and most of the others broke jail and ran home nearly two hundred miles. Much the same hol ds for the Yuma who made the long trip and return for the fun of it, plus a bit of pay at the end in food and perhaps old clothes. The kohota ohief who gave up Olive made the trip to Yuma, or sent some one, to get the promised horse and received it, according to Stratton, or a few beads, says TokwaQa. Futility wherever one turns -- long hard travels on lean rations and nothing praotical to show for it, except some filling of the general emptiness of living. Even the fetching and keeping of captives seems to have been of a piece in motivation. The Mo- have talk of building intortribal friendships thereby is something that they may have believed, but it was of oourse a rationalizations most oaptives were got in war raids. However, the attitude toward these strangers was friendly, somewhat as toward a tamed pet. It involved even a bit of chivalry, as in TokwaQats assistance to Olive on the road; and the girls seem never to have been violated or molested. Famines evidently recurred; they were taken in stride, as expectable events. There seem never to have been food reserves such as the Pueblos built up whenever they possibly could. With farmed food gone, one scattered and ate seeds or mesquite, according to season, or fished. Beans, pumpkins, seeds., and fish are mentioned in the present account as having been eaten; maize not onoe. At the time of the trip, there were Mohave as far down as below Parker, and Yuma up to within a day of them. The travelers were fed on arrival, if there was anything; in the morning there were only regrets. The oampers might find or catch more that day; the travelers had to stretch their remaining handful, and trust to their next hosts not being empty. It was a hand- to-mouth manner of subsistence, but taken cheerfully.

ITINERARY OF ROUTE TO YUMA Day 1. Needles to empty houses at lower end of Chemehuevi Valley; near 18, 19, 20 of Map 2 of A Mohave Epic, 1951. Day 2. Across Kwaskilye range, (Whipple Mts.) to Parker; Mohavres there.

7 Day 3. To lower down on reservation, east side, Mahave settlement, near 35 of map 2. Day 4. To Akoi-h=umue-nahanyo,' on west side, Yuma camp, empty; near 39 or 40 of map but opposite. Day 5. To Asakwatai, west side, Yuma camped there. South of Ehrenberg. Day 6. To Ahpe-hw8lyu, west side, Yuma fishing place. Ahpe- hw#lyeve is I of map 2, opposite 52. Day 7.* To uninhabited camp, east side*. Pirehaps Hanakwahave, 55 of map 2. Day 8* To Kuvukwilye, K, and then To'oske, 0, of map 2. In California. Day 9. By mid-morning to Fort Yuma. The air-line steps ares day 1, 28 miles; day 2, 23 miles; days 3-6, 55 miles, or 14 a day; days 7-8, 33 miles, or 16 to 17 a day; day 9 (by mid-morningl), 16 miles. Total 155 air-line miles*, corresponding to perhaps 175 actually traversed, or a bit under 20 per day. The paoe is stiffest at the beginning, slows. down about the third day.

8 THIE STRATTON ACCOTINT OF TJE CAPTIVITY In 1857 R. B. Stratton published in Fan F`rancisco and in 18,59 in New York: "Captivity of the Oatman Girls." This little volume does not do justice to such possibilities as its theme would have developed if the handling had been straightforwardly and accurateJly factual. Stratton's book aims to be sensational'but is imprecise, wordy, vague. emotional, and pious. A revised abridgement by Charles H. Jones was published by the Oregon Teachers klonthly in Salem, Oregon, in 1909. It is to the latter that the page references refer in the account and discussion that follow; though I have also read the third or undated edition of 1859 which was issued in New York after the first and second editions of 11,000 copies printed in San Francisco had been quickly 6xhausted In-.Crliforiiia and Oregon. Early in 1851, the Oatman family of nine, California-bound overland emigrants in a covered wagon, traveled in a company from `Tu Bac" (or Ta Bac) and Santa Cruz.80 miles to Tuscon. Here most of the train stayed, but the Oatrnans and two other families pushed on 90 miles farther to "Pimole," that is, the Pima Indian settlements (p. 21), which they reached on February 16. The three families hesitated to proceed; but when Dr. I. L. LoConte arrived from Ft.Yume without having been molested, the OQtmans, fearing they would stearve if they stayed longer, decided to push on to California alone., So on March 11 they started "southward" (west) with two yokes of cows and one of oxen, all in poor condition. On the soventh day, Dr. LeConto, returning to Ft. Yumna, ovortook thenm, with about 90 miles still to go. On the second day after, which I tiltdrpret td'mean the evening of the ,next day, LConte iiiade.: camp 30 miles from where he had loft the Oetmans. Eero he wts visited by twelve Indiens, who ran off all his horses and mules. He sent his Mexican guide ahead to carry word to Ft. Yuma, And followed. The Indians who robbed him may or may not have been, thoso who at- te.cked the Oatmans; if the dEates given are corroct, they could havo treveled twenty miles east after stealing the horses and met the Oat- mens late next dey. Atany rate they were certainly Yavapai, and of the Western division of this nationality. On Mlerch 18, 1851, the Oetinan wagon and famnily made ton miles, and retched the Gile River, 80 miles from Yumna. With thGir cattle in poor shape, they had difficulty fording the rivor to the north side, and made oamp on a smrsll sand islrnd. This seems to have been tho night that LeConte was robbod fRrth'r dovwnstream.. On hVreh 19, they finally succeeded in completing the ford, strugglod up on the first mosa., and rested their exhtustod nnimals. Around four in the afternoon they decided to push on, ate, and had finished reloading, wrhen the oldest son, LorenEo, sew Indians coming. Reaching the wagon, the Indians begged food a.nd wvere given brea.d; then suddenly they attackred. Six of the nine Oatmens were killed,

g busides Iorenzo who wf.s loft for deed; Olivo and her younvor sister Miiary Ann, eged about 7, were seized and cerried off. Loronzo, recovering, medo his way back to the "Pinole" Indiens tind was saved. A roscue party-found the six bodies and buried tkem. Tho attclk probably occurred not far from the leter Ague Cnlionte,. b'gohx.ve Aha-ku-pinye, which is about halfway between Gile Bend and oohawk Mts. and 80 miles by air from.Yuma.

Olive Oatman, who was about 15 - she is sometimes crlled "Miss Olive" - and Was between Lorcnzo, 14 and Lucy. about 17 walked with hor c.ptors, but Mary Ann, soon giving out, was cerried by one of them on his back. The seoond day an Oatman horse and two oxen were driven in, the oxen sloughtered, eliced up, and the moat carriod along. On the third dey they reachud-the Indian camp, "nearly 200 miles" from the scene of the massacre. This is fanteatic exagger- ation, of course. The camp was probably at a spot in or between the Hercouvr and Harquahela mountains -iMohave Ahnkuva and Ahakwahol(a). These places, neer the presont settlements of Salone, Vsendon., and Golden, (26) heiro pormanont water, and were the home or base camp of a band or subdivision of the. Southwestern Yavapai. The aroe figures repeeatedly in the Mohave Migration Epic. At any rate, their distenco from the Gila near Agua Caliento is suih that they could have been reached on the thlrd day 9f foot travel. The. story says that there were 300 in the bend, whioh can safely be cut to e. half or a. third or loses the arca is very desert. Strat- ton elso snys that they wore the brokeno-away pArt of a tribe, onlled Tonto (Touto, Touton) Apnche by tho rest (othor Appche). This is an error. The Tonto were true Apaohe, but in eastern Arizone, end -separated from. the Tolkekepaya or VBestorn Yavapai by the Southeastern Yavapei, es appears in Gifford's account. (27) Streatton's book is howover substentially right is seyine that the group did not (ordi- ,nnrily) farm end ate chiefly deer, queil, rebbits, end some roots, along with worms, gr&sshoppers,. end reptiles. (28) The MohAve lived. `300 miles northwest" (actually under 100 (29)) end wore in the habit of visiting once a ye.ar, bringing farmed food. This would presumebly be toward autumn. They did so come late in 1851. Another party of them arrived "neprly a year leter" - i.e., later than the mnasscre; for it is seid to have been about the beginning of March, 1852. There wero five men in this second party, including chief Esprniole (or Espaniola), and his daughter Topoka, a girl not yet twenty, who spoke "Appche" (i.e. Yryapai) . They came with one horse, but the girl walked. A trado was errangod for Olive and Mary Ann: the 1'ohave gave two horses (one of them promised?), a few vigotables-(perhaps pumpkins or melon seeds), a few pounds of (glt.ss) boeds, and throe blankets - a fair enough price, Pand evi- dencing the Mohave desire to pOssOes the captives. Theq tripcback tp9W eleven dnysy. This must hayc been a reason- a.bly comfortable pace, probably on a.ccount of the two girls. In the

10 Epic, the Mohave flee from the South end of 1ohnvowVallpy to Gila Bend - a considerebly longer distence - with women, childron, and agod, in eight days. (30) Var parties returning from the Mericopa also traversed a greater distance in eight days. (31) At any rate, two hours before sunset on the eloventh day Olive and Mary Ann saw Mohave Valley before them, with the "'clear and crystal waters" of the Colorado winding down it. Its water is tctually oolnpletely turbid nnd deep red, but under the roflection of the brilliant desert sky it can shine beautifully bluo from a distence. "At the north ond" was a mountain - the famous Avikwname.

There was n. liftle game in Mohave Valley, it is said, but fish were taken from "aemall leketl (slough in flood time) near the settlement where Olive was taken. The Mohave were planting wheet in auturn, but corn and melons in spring (i.e., eerly summer, immediately after the June inundation). They, or the Yuma or Pima, may havo learned about winter wheat from the Span- ierds. They also used to go six or oight miles to gather a "seod or berry that grew upon a small tree; this was their staplo." It was "hung up to dry.," for the time when thoir "vegetable" (farmed foods) were exhausted. This is evidently mesquito, Prosopis, which was indeed a staple; although a subsequent reference (p, 85) to "musquite" aPs if it wore sorrething separate, is probably due only to sloppy writing. Howrever, mesquito pods were not hung up, but were spread out to dry, and then stored in giant bird's-nest granaries of arrowweed, open-topped or covered. In the spring (of 1853?), the grain was exhausted, the harvost failed, and there was famine (pp. 75, 79). This is not too clear. The fall-sown wheat ("grain") presumably did not come up, or at least did not ripen, in spring; and thon, the June inundation not rising, the maize, pumpkins, me3lons, and beans gave no harvest. It was then that some Mohavo went to gather Oth-to-toa "berries" from "Taneta" trees 60 miles distant. They reached the place on the third day, but the fruits were scarce; and six of them, with Olive, went 20 miles farther, and there found abundance. These are evidently ahtota, grape-like fruits growing on bushes in Chemehuevi country to the northwest or northnorthwost, which the M.foh.ave de- scribe as occasionally having recourse to in timos of fgmine. But this party with Olive lost its way on returning at night, had no water, and becama ill from the berries. In the morning throo of them died; the others promptly burned their bodies. Next day, they rojoined the main party. Leeving the morning after, they returned to Mohave Valley the second evening. In tho second eutumn, which would be that of 1853, the two sisters wero given a bit of land and sood. They planted the wheat with their finrers in hillocks, but hid the corn and melon seeds away - to plant after the next flood, presumably. If the timing is stated correctly, this gift of seeds during famine evinces lively affecti on.

11 However, neary Ann diod before the faiine was over. Stretton makes quito a sob story of it, what with pious conversations be- twreen the sisters. As Mary Ann lay dying, she song hymns. This may have been rural and frontier practixe in thd-midv.nineteenth cen- tury as death approached. However, the Moheve sang for their dying kin, or wailed if they were women without song cycles; and it is indeed stated that `the ohief's wife" - "ohief" I tako to be koh8ta-wailed the whole night while standing by Mary Ann. One m?ay suspect that Mery Ann was stimulated by this to sinr too; tMd if the sang hymns, perheps it was that she had not learned cny"Mohave cycles. Previously, it is mentioned, tho Moh&ve ropeatedly asked Olive to sing - she fevored hymns, of course - and then gave her beads and bits of flannel in recomponso. As soon as Mery Ann died, the Mohave wanted to cremate her, but on Oliveos.remonstrances allowed her to bury her sistcr in her particular garden plot. The ohiof's wife Also secretly fed Olive out of her seed cache. Thus Olive got on until Mnrch-April 1854. It was now two yoers since her arrival emong the Mohave, and she had been tattooed. An engrav- ing of her in the 1859 edition shows three vertical lines from the lower lip down the chin, another from each corner of the mouth, and two (or three?) horizontal spurs or triangles out from these last. This spring, her wheat yielded her half a bushel. She also harvested (leter in the eummor) helf bushel of corn of her own. Buthe&r melons wore destroyed by flocks of bleckbirds. The year 1854 proved a better one. The "musquite" was abundant, end the overflow was good, so that farmed foods wore also plentiful. The north half of the Valley invited the southern, where Olive- livcd, for a grent foost. In the spring of 1854 the tribe was also excited over an expe- diton against the "Cocliopas", (Cooopa), `700 miles" distant (250 is nearor the fact)* Sixty.Mohave went on e war party; although the women generally wore opposed. Now follows a statement that I cannot affirm or deny: Olive was to.bo Osacrificed". if any Mohavo were killed. She was thus under s.1uspense for the "five months"' the expedition was away. Five months seems much too long. Five weoks should heve sufficed, oven if it took time to gether 1,th the Yuma and then await opportunity for a suprise ettack on the Cooopa. The word "secrifice" also arouses suspicion. Further, why should a whito girl be killod in "revenge". for losses inflicted b'r the Cocopa? It may be that kins- men of a slain warrior were sometimes undisoriminating in their grief, and the ."chief's wife" may have warned Olive of possible risk, or discussed hiding her if necessary. Or t;gaixL, the episode may be just Stratton's imagining. At any rate, Ohitia (32) arrived as messenger from the war party end announced that. all ware eafo and fivo oaptives had boqn taken. 1vour of these were girls of 12 to 16, but one was a young woman of about 25, na?med Nowereha (33), Who- soon after tried to escape. After four days a Yuma. messenger found her by the river -she had swum as

12 soon as she got way, aRnd had hidden in the willows - and brought her back. The liohave thereupon literally crucified her. She was fastened with wooden pegs through her palms and enkl's to a cross that was set up, and wes loft for some hours. There is a woodout of tho scene. Then "poisonous darts" were hurled into her for two hours, then she died, and was then burned. This account is probably inaccurate, but it is'not made up of wholo cloth. The Mohavo attribute to the Northleastern Yavapai (34) a practice which the Yavapai admit (35)# nemely sproad-eagling a man ceptive - stretching his arms and legs out - over a bed of coals. The Moheav named this Yavapai custom with tho seme word, yaka9a'alya (36), whioh they apply to their own victory celebration over a scalp. It is therefore possible that they possessed a similar custom, which they havet seen fit not to impart to Americana. Or perhaps it wJas reserved for oesppos. On tho other hand, the set- up is suspicious, and driving pegs not only through feet and hands but into a cottonwood trunk or limb seems hardly possible. I do not think it would occur to a people of Mohavo technology that anything could be "driven" into a log. Further, the Yohave had no "darts," and they are not known to hova used poison on their un- tipped,-arrow shafts of Pluchea sericea. In February of 1854 tho War Department Railroad Survey reported on by Yihipploe Ewbank, and Turner, and lator privately by M6llhausen, traversed much of Vohave Valley, associating amicably and trading freely with the tribe, but there is no hint of any white girl captive. Perhaps she had beon sapirited and hidden away. Buit if so, could all knowledgo have been kept from heor, living as a Mohave, of a large party of whites being aotually in the valley? And it is strange Stratton has no mention of a near-rescue having been frustrated by Mohave conspiracy and villainy. Was sho perhaps at tho timc a more or less willing abettor in being concealed, but later, when *ith;-whito people, was ashamed of this complaisance? Or again Stratton may have suppressed the faOt of her knowledge, if she admitted it to him: it would have squarely contradicted the tenor of his book, whoso keynote is Olive's misery among tho degraded savages. (37)

On page 98 there is reference to sweating in blankets to cure sicknoess, or oer stoam from boiling water contRining leaves. This record is of interest bocause the Yiohave lacked any sweat-houso. In the suwimer of 1855, there were doaths from feve r in the Valley. Two medicine-man lost patients, childron of subehiefs, and flcd and hid to osca.pe revenge. But thoy wore found within a few days,"arrosted and burned alive." The burning alive makes one wonder. Vvould a fellow Yohave be treated as tho Ye.vapai treated enemy alicns? Perheps they were just killed, and then, like all corpses, cremated.

l3S On page 203 of the 18.59 edition there is mention of wheat, corn, puripkins, and beans being boiled and mixed with ground-up "serececa" seeds. or pumpkin seeds; on page 209, of cakes of ground wheat mixed with boilod pumpkins, up to two feet in diameter, being laid on hot scund, covered with loaves a.nd moro sand, and then having a fire built over them.

* * * * * .* *A

About the middle of February, 1856, Olivo was grinfding seeds by the door- one of the fow touchos of intimacy in tho book when she was told that a Yuma messenger, Francisco, was on tho way to take hor back to the Americans at Yuma. Francisoo soon arrived, and a threQ days' council was hold, but it was confused and divided. t'inally Olive was refused him, and Francisco went off across the river. At noon he returned to the settlement where she lived, she was out gathering ottiloka roots.. Ho had been urged, by those iMohave who feared Amnerican reprisals, to present the case again. All this gives a paychologioal .picture much like TokwaQa's,, though the details differ. This time Olive was prosent at the meoting. She saw a letter that Prencisco carried, datod at Fort Yuma January 2.7, 1856, and signed by Lioutonant Colonel P'artin Burke. A violent discussion went on all night. After sunrise the Mohave agreed to release Olive. Apparently they started at onco. With Francisco wore his brother and two cousins. -What had heppened was this. A carpenter, known. as Carpentero _ evidently for Spanish Carpintero - his name is given as Mr. "Grinoll" - had been working at Fort Yuma since 1853. As a civilian he could be friendly with the Yuma, and perhaps had learned more or less to spflak Yuma. He kept inquiring about the missing Oatmen. girls, and in time-got the ossential facts as the Yuma hed them from the Mohave with whom they oonstantly intervlsited. The Commandent's letter shows that he took some official stops, but the carpenter, because of his por- szrial connections with the Indians, seems to have remained ohief in- stigator and go-between. It will be recalled that Tokwaga.thought he was the commending officer. Wlhen Francisco started north on February 8, 1856, he promised the carpenter to return in twenty days. On the twentieth day,, which would be February 28, the Yumn reported to the carpenter that Fran- cisco was coming in. Toward evening he saw three Indian men and "two btrk skirt women" on the opposite (Arizona) side. The other girl was Olive's hQusemate Topeka. (38) It is not said that these five persons constituted tho whole perty; only that they wore then seen. TokwaGa mentions that some of the party went ahead, while he followed with Olive. However, he hRs them arrive bofore noon instead of before dark. Stratton says thet they had been ton days on the way, though his "over 350 miles" traveled is about double the actual distance. Possibly the reason for the fairly stiff pace of nine days which TokwraQa mentions is that Francisco had named the day ons which he would be bacok. Topeka, as usual, was "'kind"' on the way. But of

14 course Tokwaga, the young buck, is not mentioned, except by himself. After all, he was just a volunteer hanger-on. Olive is reported as "unwilling to appear in her shabby bark dross," shabby evidently being Stratton's circumlocution for blouseless. So an officer's wife sends her a dress. Thereupon, Francisco, no doubt feeling very important, presents Olive to the Commandant, and there is great joy. It now turns out that Francisco had promised the Mohavo a horse as ransom, and that one reason Topeka, tho chief's daughter, was present, was that she had gono along to receive it. Col. Burke furnishod the horse, and his officers and men "tmado up the money" to buy another one for Francisco. VThich in detail is not too clear - but also not too importent, and in spite of constant minor dis- crepancies gives an overall picture much like TokwaQa's. Lorenzo, who was 14 at the time of the massacro and therefore now 19, had made "efforts" of his own (Stretton lovos this vague phrase) about his sister, and now loerned from a Los Angeles news- paper that she had beon freed. On March 10 he started from Monte to traverse the "250" miles to Fort Yuma, and arrived ther, with a Mr. Low, in ten days.

Olive was taken by a cousin to the Rogue River Valley in Oregon, where she lived with Rov. S. P. Taylor. Later she was in Boston, in New York,, in Albany at school, and at Little Falls, where she lived with the Strattons and occasionally lectured on the manners and customs of Indians. Her career in civilization, after the first flurry, sounds rather humble and quite second-rate. One wonders, did she over think beck with affection or even secret regret to her four years in Mohave Valley? The Mohave at any rate did not forget her.

15 FOOTN-OTES

(1) R.B. Stratton, Captivity of the Oatman Girls, 1857, San Francisco. (2) The name of the site was not asked for, unfortunately, and TokwaQa had not vet got into the trained informant's habit of specifying plaoes in Mohave nomenclature. (3) Perhaps a klohota or festival chief who was keeping them. Cf. the koh0ta who kept the Cooapc captive girls, Handbook of Indians of California, 746-747. (4) Nothing is disoussed about a dead person. _It appears that she died during a famine. (5) He was not an officer at all but a civilian carpenter employed at the Army post. See below. (6) This was long day's maroh. From near Needles to the lower end of Cherehuevi valley must be at least 30 miles o.n foot, part of the way over rook. (7) This is the VJhipple Mteb culminating in Monument Peak, 4110 feet high. See map 2 in A Mohaye Historical Epic, Uiniversity of California Anthropological Records, 11, no. .2, in press, ,1951. They are .outting across an angle of the river flowing first SE and then SW. (8) Another good march-around 23 miles in air line, over the Whipple Mts8 (9) This would be near 39 or 40 of m-ap 2 as just cited., but on the other side of the river. (10) The fifth. (11) Not otherwise reoorded, but evidently below Ehrenberg. (12) Ahpe-hwelyeve is I on the W side near Palo Verde on map 2. The usual Mohave route along here was on the E side. (13) For a rush balsa or raf't. (14) It is not clear whether they discovered a cache of seeds stored there or whether they found someone in the party still carrying see ds. (15) The eighth day of the maroh.

16 (16) This is K of m-ap 2, near Picaoho, and a customary crossing place to the W side, to cut off an E bend of the river. (17) Like all the others, apparently by swimming, the girl too. (18) This is 0 of map 2. (19> On the ninth day. (20) The Mohave "skirt" of black-willow inner bark was double, a front apron and a larger one behind. The interpreter may have meant the whole dress when he Englished "back skirt"; or the girl may have kept the front apron on for modesty until after she was covered by the oalico dress. (21) "Bad news" the interpreter called it in habitual circumlocution of anything referring to death, espeoially in speaking to a kinsman of the deceased. (22) I cannot place HaramsT,vexactly. (23) My notes are not quite clear: it may have been Olive's brother that was working for or with Yaeger. (24) The Stratton account would put it near Agua Caliente, which the Mohave call AJha-ku-pinye, "warm water.' I cannot place TokwaQa's Adha-ka-tamoha. (25) This suggests that the man or kohota who kept hor was of the clan who call their women Owit', and that she was considered as of this clan. (26) See G4, G5, H5, 15 of map 2 of A Mohave Historical Epic. (27) Northeastern and Western Yavapai, UC-PLAE 34:247-354, 1936; see map at end. (28) This is correct, according to Gifford, except for reptiles. Also important in the diet were agave butts, sahuaro and opuntia caotus fruit, mesquite pods, and many seeds. Gifford has the Western Yavapai farm a little more than the Eastern divisions (p. 263). (29) It is about 85 miles airline by map from Salorne to Topock at the foot of Mohave Valley. (30) The route is analyzed there -- see UC-LR, 112, 1951. (31) Same, Part 8. (32) I cannot make anything of this personal name. (33) 1 cannlot identify "Nowereha" writh any Cocopa cla~n's female name.

17 They do have Niu and Uru names, with totemic reference "deertt, and 'night-hawk." (34) Of the Prescott area. The Mohave reference is to an unpublished but prepared account of intertribal wars. (35) Gifford, as cited in note 27, p. 304; also, the same, The South- eastern Yavapal, same series, 29*177-252, 1-932 (on p. 186). (36) Handbook, p. 752. (37) The Survey party reported no. evidences of famine among the Mohave. In faot on February 23, 1854, just before reaching the Valley from the South, they traded six- bushels of corn and three of beans from the Mohave, and on February 25, in the atalley, six bushel of' corn and-200 pounds of wheat, besides whioh they were offered at least ten bushels of beans in sale and numbers of great pumpkins weighing up to 25 pounds. This was at a time well before the 1853-54 winter wheat orop oould have been ripe (immaturewhea orope were seen), and several months before the 1854 maize was even planted. The Mohave should aceordingly have been at their most destitute and hungry moment from the crop failure of 1853. Stratton has evidently either been imprecise in his dating or has exaggerated the severity of the famine. (38) The names Topeka, and the chief's wife Aespaneo who mothered Olive, do not identify with any known Mohave name, olan or personal. Nor do the men Cearekae (Ccearekae) nor Adpa-darawe, nor the "Hippoweka" spirits on Avikwam. The Hiooos are the Imericans, Haiko or Hiko, correctly enough; and on pp. 177-178 the myth of white man leaving the place of creation to go off with oattle and wealth is outlined in a form that shows the Mohave were telling the episode then muoh as they did 50 years later.